Speed-controlled starter lock for engines



15, 1955 w. J. SHIMANCKAS 2,

SPEED-CONTROLLED STARTER LOCK FOR ENGINES Filed Jan. 8, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVEN TOR. Mum/n J jfl/mnvawj Nov. 15, 1955 w. J. SHIMANCKAS SPEED-CONTROLLED STARTER LO CK FOR ENGINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 8, 1955 INVENTOR.

5m 414/ J. j/mmA/c/m 5 Q AM M w Ari'oews' f United States Patent SPEED-CONTROLLED STARTER LOCK FOR ENGINES William J. Shimanckas, Gurnee, Ill., assignor toOutboard, Marine & Manufacturing Company, Waukegan, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application January 8,1953, Serial No. 330,225

17 Claims. (Cl. 123-185) This invention relates to a speed-controlled starter lock for engines. The invention has particular application to an outboard motor engine. In such an installation, it is used as a safety device to prevent the starter from being used when the controls are set for high speed operation. There have been instances in which the extraordinary acceleration of which outboard motors are capable has pitched the operator over the stern of the boat because the controls were advanced at the time of starting.

In its preferred embodiment, the inventioncontemplates the provision of lugs on the starting pulley and a detent which is moved into the path of such lugs by connections which are actuated by the advance of the timer lever. Desirably these connections include lost motion connections for the throttle, whereby the latter is ordinarily actuated at the same time as the spark and the locking dog, but may be independently actuated to facilitate starting.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of an engine to which my invention is applied, portions of the starting pulley shroud and engine housing being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the starting pulley shroud, portions thereof being broken away. I

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view diagrammatically illustrating in perspective the locking dog and its several connections.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view in plan of a portion of the actuating connection.

Fig.' 5 is a further enlarged detail view in perspective fragmentarily illustrating a somewhat modified construction.

The engine 7 chosen by way of exemplification happens to be a two-cylinder, two-cycle engine with upright crank shaft 8, the latter being in accordance with conventional outboard motor practice. It has a carburetor 9 with throttle valve 10 mounted on rock shaft 11 and choke valve 12 mounted on rock shaft 13, the latter being shown in Fig. 3.

The upper end of the crank shaft is a magneto type fly wheel 15, beneath which there is an oscillatory adjustable timer plate 16 provided with a control handle 17 in accordance with any usual or desired practice.

The invention is particularly applicable where the fiy wheel is provided with a starter of the so-called recoil type such as is shown, for example, in the co-pending application of Lucius D. Watkins, filed January 5, 1949, Serial No. 69,314. A variety of such starters are known and reference to the above entitled application is solely by way of exemplification, since the use of the invention is not limited to the specific construction shown in the Watkins application. I

, For the purposes of the present case, it sufiices to note that a bracket structure 17 (Fig 1 and Fig. 2) supports concentric with the crank shaft 8 and fly wheel 15 a starting pulley 18 which is mounted for rotation and has wound upon its sheave portion 19 a number of turns of a starter rope 20 which enters a guide slot 21 carried by the shroud-22. :A'sthe rope 20 is withdrawn by means of v 2,723,655 Patented Nov. 15, 1955 ice handle 23, it rotates pulley 18 against the tension of a spring (not shown). The rotation of the pulley is communicated by dogs (not shown) to fly wheel 15 to crank the engine 7. When the rope 20 is released, the spring re-winds the rope in the sheave 19 of pulley 18.

In order to render the starting device inoperative when the engine controls are set for high speed engine operation, I provide a starter lock which, in the specific exemplification shown, involves the provision of upstanding radial ribs 24 which are closely spaced angularly. about the perimeter of the starting pulley 18. The looking dog 25 is pivoted on pintle pin 26 to the rope guide 21 or other convenient fixed part of the assembly. Its free end desirably extends between ears 27 and 28 which are upstanding on shroud 28 as bestshown in Fig. 2, to relieve the dog and its pintle of lateral stress such as might be occasioned by any attempt to rotate pulley 18 when the free end of the dog is engaged between the ribs 24 on the upper surface of the pulley as shown in full lines in Fig. 3. J

Normally, the dog is raised to the position in which it is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, it being biased to that position by a tension spring 29 engaged with a spring anchorage 30 on a link 31 having a cotter key 32 engaged beneath the car 33 which projects laterally from the dog 25. The end of link 31 extends through the ear 33 and is encircled by a compression spring 36 seated against a washer 37 at the upper end of link 31 to provide a yieldable connection through which the dog can be urged to full line position shown in Fig. 3 when the link rod 31 is pulled downwardly, The com pression spring 36 is stronger than tension spring 29 to assure that the dog will be drawn to its full line position whenever the link rod 31 is pulled down.

To pull the link down when locking of the starting pulley is required, a variety of expedients may be used,

but I have found it simple and convenient to employ a cam 40 on the timer plate 16, which cam may also be used to control the throttle valve 10 coincidentally with the spark advancing and retarding movement of the timer plate 16. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 4, I have provided a stud 41 projecting laterally from the portion 42 of the engine 7. Upon this stud the inner and outer arms of a pair of U-shaped levers 43 and 44 are pivoted for oscillation. The arms 45 and 46 of the inner lever 43 comprise a bell crank. Arm 45 is curled at 47 around a shaft 48 upon which the cam follower roller 50 is mounted to ride on the periphery of cam 40. The link rod 31 above referred to has its end portion 51 bent at right angles to extend through arm 46 in pivotal connection therewith. Thus, as the timer plate 16 is moved to the right as viewed in Fig. 3 in a spark-advancing direction (to increase engine speed), motion is communicated through the cam follower roller 50 and arm 45 of lever 43, to move downwardly the bell crank arm 46 of such lever, thereby drawing the dog 25 into position between ribs 24 of the starting pulley to render the latter inoperative. Lost motion between link 31 and ear 33 of detent dog 25 may occur against the bias of spring 36 to permit continued advance of the speed control to maximum speed position after the dog 25 has reached its fully advanced locking position.

As the control handle 17 of the timer plate is moved to the left as viewed in Fig. 3, in a speed retarding direction, the cam follower roller 50 and the bell crank I comprising arms 45 and 46 are permitted to oscillate free for operation.

control has reached a position corresponding to an engine speed at which it is safe to start.

The outer lever 44 communicates motion from lever 43 to throttle valve .10 (which also constitutes a speed control), so that the throttle valve may be opened coincidentally with spark advance for engine acceleration at and beyond the point at which the detent 25 locks the starter. To this end, the arm 54 .of lever 44 has an car at 55 which engages the portion 47 of lever 43, being held thereto by a tension spring 56. A link 57 connects arm 54 with the rock arm 58 of the rock shaft 11 on which the throttle valve 10 is mounted within the carburetor. The arrangement shown is one which permits the throttle valve 10 to be opened independently of'the timer, this being sometimes desirable in connec tion with a choking operation in .the starting of the engine. The arrangement illustrated is entirely diagrammatic to show how the choke handle 59 on slide 60 may be used to draw the slide to the left as viewed in Fig. 3, such motion being communicated through link 61 to rock shaft 13 to actuate the choke valve 12. If, at the time choking is attempted, the throttle valve 10 is fully closed as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the rock arm 62 will be in the dotted line position in the notch 63 in the under surface of slide 60. As the slide moves outwardly, it will engage the upwardly projecting arm 62 to oscillate rock shaft 11 and throttle valve 10 through a limited range in a valve opening direction. This movement is accommodated by the independent motion of lever 44 against the bias of spring 56.

The hand lever 17 controls engine speed by advancing the timer plate, or by opening the throttle valve, or desirably, by communication of motion both to the timer and throttle valve.

Fig. shows a simplified embodiment in which the cam 40 on timer plate 16 is unchanged and the mounting stud 41 is also unchanged. Instead of the cam follower roller above described, the bell crank lever 460 has its terminal edge portion 500 bearing against the periphery of cam 40 to receive motion therefrom. The link 31 is connected directly with bell crank lever 460 so that the motion received from cam 40 is communicated directly to the dog 25 without any connection whatever to the carburetor.

Motion is communicated to the throttle valve by the entirely independent lever 449, likewise pivoted on stud 41 and having a cam follower portion 44 independently bearing on the periphery of cam 40. The link 57 connects with lever 40 to receive motion therefrom for the same operations as above described except that no part of the lever system which operates the dog here intervenes between cam 40 and the throttle valve.

It will be understood that a variety of mechanical expedients may be used; that the engine control devices shown are intended broadly to exemplify engine speed controls; and that the dog which locks the starting pulley is intended broadly to exemplify any starting pulley lock which is engaged and disengaged mechanically according to the positions of the engine speed controls, whatever these'rnay be.

I claim:

1. In an engine having a starter and a speed control movable between high speed and low speed positions, the combination with the starter of a lock including a detent movable between advanced and retracted positions, such starter including a keeper part with which said detent is engageable in its advanced position, and means for transmitting motion from the speed control to said. detent in a direction to move the detent to its advanced position as the speed control is moved to its high speed position, said connections including means for retracting said detent as said speed control is moved toward low speed position.

,2. .The .device .ofclaim 1 in which said engine has a fly wheel magneto. and said, speed control comprises a timer plate, the motion transmitting connections including a cam connected'with the timer-plate anda cam 'follower connected with the detent.

3. The device of claim 1 in which said speed control comprises a manually operable part and a throttle valve having actuating means connected to receive motion from said part.

4. The device of claim 1 in which said speed control comprises a timing lever, together with a throttle valve having a connection from said timing lever to be opened as said timing lever moves to its speed advancing position.

5. The device of claim 4 in which said timing lever is provided with a cam and the said connections include cam follower means having linkage leading to the detent and throttle valve.

6. The device of claim 5 in which a single cam follower actuates the linkage leading to the detent as well as that leading to the throttle valve.

7. The device of claim 5 in which separate cam followers have separate linkage leading respectively to the detent and the throttle valve.

8. In an engine having a speed control lever and a cranking device including a starting rope and pulley, said engine having a crank shaft with which said pulley is coaxial and. has .driving connections, the combination with said pulley and speed control, of shoulder means mounted on the pulley, a detent disposed adjacent the path vof rotation of said shoulder means and mounted for movement between advanced and retracted positions, the detent being in the path of said shoulder in the advanced detent position, and means for transmitting motion from said speed control to said detent for advancing the detent from its retracted position to its advanced position as the. speed control is advanced, whereby to make the starting pulley inoperative in the advanced speed position of said speed control.

9. The device .of claim 8 in which the detent comprises a pivoted dog generally radial with respect to the pulley and movable between its advanced and retracted positions in the general direction of a plane including a radius and the axis of said pulley.

10. The device of claim 8 in which said detent is provided'with spring means biasing it toward its retracted position, the connections ,for moving it to its advanced position comprising a cam connected with said speed control, and a cam follower having linkage connecting it with said detent.

ll. The device of claim 8 in which said linkage has a lost motion device for permitting continued movement of the speed control after said detent reaches its said advanced position.

12. In an engine having a crank shaft and aligned starting rotor and a speed control lever, the combination with such rotor provided with circumferentially spaced shoulders, of a dog having a fixed pivot and a free end portion movable between a retracted position in which it is free of such shoulders and an advanced position in which it lies in the path of such shoulders, motion transmitting'connections from said lever to said dog for moving said dog toward said advanced position as said lever is moved in a direction of increased engine speed, and means whereby said dog is moved toward its retracted position in the course of movement of said lever toward a position of retarded engine speed.

13. The device of claim 12 in which said connections comprise, cam connected with said lever, a can: follower engaged by the cam, a link connected with the cam follower, an car on said dog through which said link extends, a spring provided with a spring seat on said link and cor-.nectedwith said ear, and means on said link for acting upon said ear in opposition to said spring, said spring accommodating lost motion between said link and ear to permit continued advance of said control lever after said dog reaches itsadvanced position.

14. The-device of .claim.l3 invwhich. said link .is pro-.

vided with a biasing spring acting thereon in a direction to transmit motion through said link to said ear for moving said dog to its retracted position.

15. The device of claim 13 in which said cam follower has a bell crank upon which it is mounted and includes a roller bearing against said cam and an arm with which such link is connected.

16. The device of claim 15 in which said engine is provided with a throttle valve having actuating connections positioned to receive motion from said bell crank, said throttle valve being opened by such connections as said control lever moves toward a position of advanced engine speed.

17. The combination with an engine starting device comprising a pulley, of means thereon providing generally radial shoulders, a locking dog having a fixed pintle and means for moving said dog to and from the path of said shoulders, said dog engaging one of said shoulders to preclude starting pulley operation when in said path and being retractable from said path to permit starting pulley operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,272,101 Rice July 9, 1918 

